Shakespeare in the age of Trump
To understand today’s demagogues and despots we should look to Macbeth and Richard III.
By
God isn’t dead
How postwar Paris became the intellectual capital of the world
The soundtrack was jazz and the clothes were black. When Paris spoke, the world listened.
By
The long roots of Russian anti-Semitism
The most famous pogrom of all took place at Kishinev in 1903. Its consequences were felt for years.
By
Lily Allen: why #MeToo hasn’t hit the music industry
The singer opens up about alcohol, cheating – and why she’s ready to call herself a musician.
By
Towering ambitions: the problematic history of social housing
How council estates went from being seen as the solution to poor housing to a dank and crime-ridden example…
By
Why Meg Wolitzer is a writer for the #MeToo era
Wolitzer has been offering piercing work on women’s lives for decades. Now, the world is finally catching up.
By
Defenders of the faith: why right-wing populists are embracing religion
Populist leaders style themselves as protectors of Christianity while revolting against immigration and “the liberalism of the rich”.
By
Inside the headquarters of Britain’s anti-Brexit brigade
In an unassuming office in Millbank, Remain activists have come together to try to keep Britain in the EU.…
By
Replacing Trump with “President Pence” is exchanging one dangerous leader for another
Don’t be fooled by the friendly Midwestern drawl: Pence is a religious extremist.
By
How Patrick Heron made Cornwall the heart of British abstract art
His paintings are joyous and beautiful, great sheets of throbbing colour interspersed with squares, circles and ragged patches of…
By
Ireland’s Yes campaigners’ greatest success? Convincing voters that women are people too
In repealing the Eighth Amendment, the country vowed to stop treating women like mere vessels that might one day contain…
By
Academic emergencies,the art of the side-hustle, and the absurdity of Cambridge
My life in Cambridge is a strange mixture of privilege and precarity. One day I’m dining in Peterhouse’s 13th-century…
By
Why you should watch… Evil Genius
A true-crime docuseries from Netflix exploring the 2003 “collar bomb” robbery in the style of Making a Murderer.
By
Jonathan Meades and the proud art of slang
Meades delivered, in essence, an illustrated essay in which he praised slang, the language of the common man, and…
By
How artificial intelligence could personalise food of the future
One day you may be able to hold your smartphone up to a vending machine and order a unique Coca-Cola with…
By
Poking the giant: how radio reported the death of Philip Roth
Perhaps the parting of a great contributor to civilisation would not be sidelined by a 1970s argument that claimed…
By
Vive les rosbifs: how the French finally got a taste for British food
The more adventurous among our French friends are plucking up the courage to give the second-worst cuisine in Europe a…
By
Sex, death and ironic punctuation in the poetry of Hera Lindsay Bird
“Everything in my life I have to turn into a joke”
By
Commons Confidential: The cost of Tommy Two Dinners’ diet
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By
I may not own a Tardis but we all carry time machines in our heads
I now see the poignancy of the Doctor’s situation: rootless, ever on the move, trying to do whatever good…
By
How the north of England’s economy is being reborn
“I call it the buzz – you don’t just automatically assume, ‘What time’s the next train to London?'”
By
After a row in St Ives I reflect that there is no great secret to a good marriage
We blunder on, doing our best, accepting our differences. Good days, bad days.
By
The paramedics didn’t see Martina’s “Do Not Attempt Resuscitation” note – so she got a new lease of life
Her brush with death seemed to have given her a renewed joy in life, despite the hardships.
By
Why Unite bailed out Labour’s struggling £35-a-head music festival (and why it matters)
For Labour Live, tickets are not selling fast – in fact, they are barely selling at all.
By
Lightning storms, Philip Roth’s women, and why geography is now the poshest subject
The bank holiday weekend saw what the BBC called “the mother of all thunderstorms”. In the 1950s, then, I suppose I witnessed…
By
Mandy Patinkin Q&A: “The beauty inside the human body is a phenomenal mystery“
The Homeland actor on childhood injury, Stephen Sondheim and the lack of sensitivity in the modern world.
By
Leader: how the Italian election result exposed Europe’s fraying union
There is now an increased possibility that Italy – the world’s eighth-largest economy – could leave the euro.
By